Intentions to Marry, 1890

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840402, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 23 2025

Page 1251

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1890 Registrar J. A. Howes

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

8 December 1890

William John Johnstone
Ellen Johnson

Walter Edwin Parnham
Ellen Johnson
💍 1891/3583

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Dressmaker

20
22

Karaka Thames
Naiotahi Thames

20 years
7 years

St. George's Church Mackay St Thames

90/3008

John Johnstone father

8 December 1890

Rev. T. O'Callagham E.R. Church of England

No	51
Date of Notice	8 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Johnstone	Ellen Johnson
BDM Match (61%)	Walter Edwin Parnham	Ellen Johnson
	💍 1891/3583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Dressmaker
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Karaka Thames	Naiotahi Thames
Length of Residence	20 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church Mackay St Thames
Folio	90/3008
Consent	John Johnstone father
Date of Certificate	8 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. O'Callagham E.R. Church of England

16 December 1890

Thomas Erikson Smith
Lilian Beatrice Smith

Thomas Erikson
Lilian Beatrice Smith
💍 1890/1633

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

27
18

Karaka Road Thames
Pollen St Thames

5 years
18 years

The Dwelling of Mr. William Smith Pollen St Thames

90/3002

William Smith Father

16 December 1890

Rev. W. R. Woolley Baptist

No	52
Date of Notice	16 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Erikson Smith	Lilian Beatrice Smith
BDM Match (85%)	Thomas Erikson	Lilian Beatrice Smith
	💍 1890/1633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Karaka Road Thames	Pollen St Thames
Length of Residence	5 years	18 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Mr. William Smith Pollen St Thames
Folio	90/3002
Consent	William Smith Father
Date of Certificate	16 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Woolley Baptist

17 December 1890

Thomas Anderson Bushman
Louisa Morrison Servant

Thomas Anderson
Louisa Morrison
💍 1890/1632

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic Servant

28
19

Thames
Hope Road Thames

20 years
19 years

The Dwelling of Mr. Amy Hope Road Thames

90/3001

Proper person in the Colony having authority to give consent (See Sec 27)

31 December 1890

Rev. W. Keall Wesleyan

No	53
Date of Notice	17 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Anderson Bushman	Louisa Morrison Servant
BDM Match (65%)	Thomas Anderson	Louisa Morrison
	💍 1890/1632
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic Servant
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Hope Road Thames
Length of Residence	20 years	19 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Mr. Amy Hope Road Thames
Folio	90/3001
Consent	Proper person in the Colony having authority to give consent (See Sec 27)
Date of Certificate	31 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Keall Wesleyan

20 December 1890

William John Baker Plummer
Edith Annie Newby

William John Baker Plummer
Edith Annie Newby
💍 1890/1641

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

33
20

Tararu Thames
Japu Hastings

20 years
20 years

The Public School House Japu Hastings

90/3009

William John Newby Father

20 December 1890

Rev. T. O'Callagham E.R. Church of England

No	54
Date of Notice	20 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Baker Plummer	Edith Annie Newby
	💍 1890/1641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Tararu Thames	Japu Hastings
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The Public School House Japu Hastings
Folio	90/3009
Consent	William John Newby Father
Date of Certificate	20 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. O'Callagham E.R. Church of England

22 December 1890

Charles Robert Lovatt
Mary Driver

Charles Robert Lovatt
Mary Driver
💍 1890/1634

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

24
21

Pollen St Thames
Pollen St Thames

6 months
21 years

The Dwelling of Mrs. Driver Pollen St Thames

90/3003

22 December 1890

Rev. W. R. Woolley Baptist

No	55
Date of Notice	22 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Robert Lovatt	Mary Driver
	💍 1890/1634
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Pollen St Thames	Pollen St Thames
Length of Residence	6 months	21 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Mrs. Driver Pollen St Thames
Folio	90/3003
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Woolley Baptist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).